Devices with a built-in camera may have the ability to authenticate a user by performing facial recognition. Facial recognition methods often process an image in two steps. The first step, which may be described as detection, locates a face within an image. The second step, which may be described as recognition, analyzes the detected face to determine a similarity between the detected face and a stored face or template. To achieve accurate results, the facial recognition processes may depend upon the quality of detected images. When capturing images, a camera may automatically adjust capture settings based on image characteristics. These settings may include automatic adjustments to exposure and/or gain. For example, when an image condition includes a face with strong backlighting, the automatic adjustment may reduce exposure in the image to account for the backlighting. These image settings, however, may be optimized for capturing the most visually appealing pictures.